Do you ever wonder why certain family rituals started? Like pork roast on New Year's Day.
I don’t recall doing anything special for New Year's Day when we were growing up. It was usually just a hangover recovery day for the adults and the end of Christmas break for us kids.
In later years, I remember talking with Patty about cooking pork roast for her family on New Year's Day, but I never really knew why.
Google says that Germans eat pork roast and sauerkraut for good luck in the new year, and that tradition carried over to the Pennsylvania Dutch community. Well, we have Germans and Pennsylvanians in our family, so that must be it - right?
Today, Mike, Faith and I are heading to Fran’s house for our traditional New Year’s Day with the Trinker’s - sans pork roast - but for my clan, here’s my own spin on the meal. I love tenderloin of pork because it's fast and easy, with red cabbage instead of sauerkraut and corn fritters on the side.
Happy hangover recovery day! And good luck to us all in the new year.
Pork Tenderloin Roast with corn fritters and red cabbage
2-3 pounds of pork tenderloin - usually two per package
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Minced garlic
Your choice of other herbs, like sage, thyme, oregano - be creative
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle salt and pepper generously on all sides of the tenderloins.
Prepare a heavy skillet with enough olive oil to cover the bottom, and heat to medium high.
Sear the tenderloins on all sides in the hot oil until nice and brown - maybe 2-3 minutes per side.
In a small bowl, combine minced garlic and your choice of herbs. When the tenderloins are browned, rub them with the herb mixture and place them in a shallow roasting pan.
Roast at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, to an internal temperature of 140-150 degrees.
Let the meat rest, covered with foil, for another 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Corn fritters
This is one of those family jewels that nobody ever wrote down - so these are approximate measurements. Experiment a few times and they'll come out just right!
2 cans of creamed corn
2 eggs
1/2 to 1 cup of flour
Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil for frying
Mix together first 4 ingredients and adjust flour as needed - the batter should be a little looser than pancake batter but not too runny. Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium high heat, and pour spoonfuls of batter as shown. They cook fast! Cook till nice and brown, flip them once to brown the other side, and drain carefully on paper towels before serving. They are delicate so handle with care. Absolutely delicious!
Red cabbage
Not gonna lie - I like the store-bought red cabbage in a jar! If you feel adventurous and want to make it from fresh, I'm sure there are plenty of recipes on other people's blogs - and please feel free to add them here!
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